I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on how airlines can solve delays, cancellations, and flight disruptions. That's not what this blog is about. I'm going to focus on the easiest of solutions to most problems in any business: customer service.
The ancient art of being friendly, understanding, and doing the right thing for your paying clients seems to have become a distant memory of most major airlines.
Flight issues arise for many reasons. Some are the fault of the airlines logistics, some are weather related. Some can be controlled by the company and some cannot. I can't imagine what it takes to run a large airline like American Airlines, Delta Airlines, etc. I understand that a thunderstorm in Atlanta can cause a cascading effect on flights all over the country. What I don't understand, is how the airlines seem to wash their hands of the major impact delays and disruptions have on their customers.
Flight prices have never been higher. Customer service has never been worse. Air travel and doctors offices are the place where you have no control over the price you pay while being delayed endlessly, standing in lines or waiting on hold for help, and being shoved into an ever-shrinking space for hours upon end.
While trying to get to Barcelona for our Mediterranean cruise our flight was delayed for nearly four hours leaving Dallas-Forth Worth (DFW) because we were missing two flight attendants. This appeared to me to be the fault of the airline but I won't digress into the blame game on that. Once we boarded the plane and pushed back from the gate hours after our scheduled departure, a passenger became ill and we had to return to the gate. The crew then timed out, meaning that legally they could no longer work any more hours without a break. This was not the fault of the airline but the four hour delay where the majority of the flight crew was just sitting on the aircraft waiting on two flight attendants certainly didn't help.
Our flight was rescheduled from what originally was supposed to be a 7:00 pm departure on Wednesday with a 12:00 pm arrival Thursday in Barcelona to 11:00 am departure on Thursday with a 9:00 am arrival on Friday. We lost an entire day of our time in Barcelona on this once in a lifetime trip.
I won't even go into the horrible communication from American Airlines. They originally told us that departure would be at 9:00 am on Thursday, then bumped to 10:00 am, then to 11:00 am. All within 20 minutes. Because our flight was so delayed, we had to disembark the plane. American Airlines did offer hotel vouchers, but the line was around 250 people deep because they had one agent working a gate with a flight cancelled with over 200 people on it. We had two choices: sleep at the airport, or go buy our own hotel room. We chose to forego the hours long line and go ahead and buy our own hotel room to get as much sleep as possible.
Thankfully, our flight did depart as scheduled the next morning and we got to Barcelona one full day after we were supposed to.
Unfortunately, American Airlines completely washed their hands of the impact they had on our trip. Let's start with the fact that for two people to fly across the Atlantic in coach cost nearly $3,000. We also lost a full nights stay in our hotel in Barcelona that was non-refundable and cost $300 per night. You can't compensate for the lost time on this once-in-a-lifetime trip. Did American offer us any compensation for our $3,000 flight that was nowhere near getting us to our destination on time? Of course not. By your airline ticket contract, they don't have to. Their only obligation was to get us to Barcelona. It doesn't really matter when.
Further research shows that the flight from DFW to Barcelona his delayed nearly 50 percent of the time by an hour or more. Basically, the flight hardly ever departs or arrives on time.
What other purchase in the world would you make that costs that much money where the expectations are that low?
In what world would you have that poor of an experience with lack of execution, would you pay $3,000 and not expect some sort of compensation?
Fortunately, I carry trip insurance and was re-imbursed for everything that I lost. Those that went uninsured were just out the money. I contacted American Airlines when I got back from my trip about the price of the flight and the delay costing us precious time in Barcelona. Their response? They gave me 3,000 bonus miles. Wow. What a great response. Not even enough to cover a one-way ticket to anywhere in the continental United States.
My story is a mild one compared to those that experienced delays and cancellations with the global Crowdstrike outage. People stranded for days, luggage lost, money lost. Some airlines did right by their customers, some did not.
To put it plainly, airlines have lowered our expectation to a point that we simply just accept the fate that they are going to screw up, provide you with less and less comfort on flights, all while prices are up beyond any other time in history.
It's unreasonable to expect companies that rely on logistics so much to not have occasional bad days. This is not about that. It's about basic customer service. It's about providing an experience that is consistent with the price you paid.
Let's take stock of the experience you get with most modern airlines:
Less leg room each time a new plane is built.
Higher than historical prices because of inflation.
Frequent delays/cancellations with no additional compensation for inconveniences.
Lack of communication and customer service when issues do arise (hours on hold, long lines at guest services, rude personnel in customer service).
$35-$50 baggage fees with a non-negotiable limit on weight, all just to treat your bag like its a sack of trash.
Lost luggage with little to no offers of compensation for expenses incurred if your trip is not insured.
Removal of most free inflight beverage and food service.
Long lines at check-in with unfriendly staff once you do get to the counter.
Significant fees for more legroom that only equates to mere inches of extra room.
An airline could really separate themselves by just doing the basic things right. Some of them try, but most of them fail. I don't have all the answers, but I do know there has to be more accountability of the airlines to provide at least some value for the price the consumer is paying.
As a frequent traveler, the thought of flying makes me nauseous. Not because of the flight itself, that's the easy part. The act of simply getting checked in, getting on your plane, and getting to your destination when you're scheduled to seems to be a distant memory on most flights.
I'd be amiss if I talked about flight issues without mentioning trip insurance. This is a must with the unpredictable nature of air travel these days. We always carry a nice, third-party travel insurance policy and always recommend it to our clients. The airlines will not compensate you for most out-of-pocket expenses caused by delays and cancellations.
If you'd like to purchase a trip insurance policy, simply call/text us at (870) 604-5929 and we can hook you up. You do not have to purchase your vacation package with us to take advantage of our trip insurance offers.
Delays are part of it. The journey is the adventure. But, the airlines have got to start providing a better experience in consideration with the expense and needs of its customers. These meltdowns are becoming far to common and millions of dollars of vacation dollars are lost because of them.
Have you been affected by airline disruption? Leave a comment and tell us about your expense and how/if the airline compensated you for your difficulties.
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